The Rise of Dictatorship

 Course: Comisión 1692

 Subject: Aspectos de la Cultura del Siglo XX

Stalin’s Dictatorship
by Clara Alimena

After the October Revolution the Bolsheviks formed the Red Army led by
Lenin and Trotsky, and they went to a Civil War against the White Army. The
Red Army won mainly because of many reasons: the white army
disorganization, the fact that they had Trotsky who was a really good strategist
and because of military discipline and well organization of the Red Army.
During this Civil War, Lenin introduced the War Communism System to
keep the Red Army stocked with food and weapons so that they could keep
fighting and win the Civil war. So people was obligated to work and give their
production to the Red Army and of course they started to be unhappy and since
they couldn’t organize strikes or demonstrations because it was illegal by then,
the production started to fall, and this led to famine in the country. The Civil
war ended, but the War Communism System continued.
In 1921 there was a Mutiny at a large naval base in Kronstadt where
peasants were serving, because they wanted to go back to their farms, and
they were all killed in the Mutiny. After this tragic event Lenin decided it was
time for solutions and he introduced the New Economic Policies the NEP. These
New Economic Policies included the return of agriculture, retail trade and some
private ownership, the peasants could cultivate and own their own land as long
as they paid taxes to the state, and the state retained control of heavy industry,
transport, banking and foreign trade. These policies help the country to recover
from the effects of the Civil.
When Lenin died in 1924, there was no direct successor and therefore
the control was apparently left in the hands of the Politburo. The Politburo had
been formed by Lenin in order to organize the October Revolution, and it was
formed by 7 members, Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky and 4 other members.
Stalin was very intelligent and made the other members of the Politburo
to confront each other, and by 1929 he was the new dictator, and he acclaimed
himself as the True Successor of Lenin.
Stalin real intentions were for Russia to be an industrial power more than
an agricultural and weak country. On the other hand, he needed to protect
the Soviet Union from armed invasion and therefore he needed to expand
production of raw materials and energy used by the factories which made
warships, aeroplanes and vehicles.
With this aim of industrialisation, Stalin established what it was called
Five Year Plans in 1928, setting production targets for each industry. Coal,
Steel, Iron, chemicals, electricity, oil, etc.
The first Five Year Plan lasted from 1928 to 1933 and gave priority to
heavy industry. In 1933 the second Plan started, and it also gave priority to
heavy industry. In 1938 the third Plan took place emphasizing the manufacture

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of guns, planes, tanks and munitions suspecting of an invasion from Germany

with whom they had signed a pact of non aggression 1939.
During this Five Year Plans, and since their only industrial center was in
Ukraine, he decided to build another industrial center at the east of Moscow on
the Ural Mountains, and other industrial projects were carried out, such as
tractor factories, hydroelectric Power Stations, new roads, railways to have
faster delivery of goods through the Soviet Union, etc .
There was also a situation with the peasants and agriculture during these
years. It was called the Collectivisation of agriculture. According to what Stalin
wanted, the peasants lands were taken by force in order to form huge farms
owned by the government. But of course the richer peasants called the Kulaks,
had more to lose, and many of them chose to kill their animals, and destroy
their farms and machinery before giving them to the State. Because of this
resistance, many Kulaks were sent to labour camps or shot. On the other hand,
the poor peasants found this as a benefit for them because they received a
small plot of land where they could have a few animals and grow a few
vegetables and they were given equipment to work, but some time later it
ended to be a problem because these peasants were taking care of their private
plot instead of working for their official duties for the State. All of these
situations caused a huge fall in food production, and this led to the greatest
famine in 1932-1933. While the Communist Party officials were well fed, the
peasants ended up eating dogs, horses, rotten potatoes, grass, anything they
could to survive, but they kept dying of starvation.
During the last 2 years of this second five year plan the Purges took
place. That was the name for the many executions of civil communists,
servants, scientists, army officers and Lenin closest colleagues accused of being
anti-stalinists and terrorists.
The most important conclusion was that forced collectivisation helped
Stalin to achieve the fast industrialization and therefore they were well
prepared and they were a great power when the Nazis invaded them, but the
human costs were incalculable.

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)

By Alejandra Fleitas

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, a village located in Linz,

Austria. On April 20 1889, parents were Alois Hitler and Klara Polz. His father
was a rigid man, and a compulsive drinker hit Hitler and the rest of his brothers
for anything, in this situation his mother endorsed and overprotected him thus
forming a cold, self-centered character, marked by hatred for his father and his
stepbrothers. In his school studies he was a brilliant student, but in the first
year of secondary education he repeated the grade (an illness prevented him
from continuing) so at the age of 16 he left school. In1907 he applied to the
academy of arts in Vienna leaving disapproved. As he failed in his vocation as a
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painter, lived poorly as a tramp. From that time dates his conversion to
Germanic nationalism and anti-Semitism
In 1913 Adolf Hitler fled the Austro-Hungarian Empire to not perform
military service; he did not want to serve along with Slavs and Jews, although
he had also always been attracted by the German Empire. He took refuge in
Munich and enlisted in the German army during the First World War (1914-18).
In 1914, he was located by the Austrian authorities, for the medical
examination, where he was declared unfit to perform military service.
Then in Munich, Hitler joined a small right-wing party, from which he
became the main leader, renaming it the National Socialist Party of German
Workers (NSDAP). The party declared itself nationalist, anti-Semitic, anti-
communist, anti-liberal, anti-democratic and anti-pacifist. In 1923 he was
arrested for nine months. There he wrote his political ideas in a book titled My
Struggle. In 1925, already released, Hitler reconstituted the National Socialist
Party The deep economic crisis unleashed since 1929 and the political
difficulties of the Weimar Republic provided a growing audience of the
unemployed willing to listen to his demagogic propaganda, wrapped in a
paraphernalia of parades, flags, hymns and uniforms
In 1933 from the Chancellery Hitler destroyed the constitutional regime
and replaced it with a one-party dictatorship based on his personal power. Thus
began the so-called Third Reich (the Third German Empire. In 1934 the Jews
were deprived of the right to national health insurance. Hitler proclaimed
himself Führer or absolute leader of the German nation, immediately after the
death of President Hindenburg. Ninety percent of German voters approved
Hitler's new powers
In 1935 Hitler stripped the Jews of their civil rights who were defined as
a separate race under "The Law of Protection of the Blood and German Honor."
This law prohibited marriages or sexual relations between Jews and Germans.
Many thousands of Germans were defined as "non-Aryans" (included anyone
who had at least one father or grandfather of Jewish faith). People who had
converted to Christianity were considered Jewish if they had Jewish
grandparents.The Nazis prohibited Jews from military service. In 1936 Jews
were deprived of the right to vote.
In 1938 took place the Night of broken glass where about 1,000
synagogues were burned down and 76 destroyed. More than 7,000 Jewish
businesses and homes were looted, around a hundred Jews were killed and
30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. The Nazis forced
Jews to transfer their businesses to Aryan hands and expelled all Jewish
students from public schools. Jews were forced to pay for the damages of the
Kristallnacht. They were prohibited from practicing commerce and providing a
variety of commercial services. The Nazis ordered Jews over 15 years of age to
apply to the police for identity credentials. Jews were forbidden to practice
medicine and law. It was required that the Jewish passports bear a stamp in
the shape of a large red "J".

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On September 1, 1939 Hitler invaded Poland, establishing the New

Order, a plan to abuse and eliminate Jews and Slavs. The Nazis forced the Jews
to surrender all their belongings of gold and silver. The Jews lost the right to be
tenants and were relocated to Jewish homes. In 1940 The Lodz Ghetto
occupied Poland was walled off and isolated from the outside world with
230,000 Jews locked inside. The Warsaw Ghetto, with more than 400,000 Jews,
was walled.
In September 1941 the Nazis began using gas trucks or trucks loaded
with groups of people who were locked in and suffocated with carbon
monoxide. Six death camps or extermination camps were built in Poland.
These, also known as factories of death, were: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka,
Belzec, Sobibor, Lublin (also called Majdanek) and Chelmno.
In January 1942, SS officer Reinhard Heydrich called a meeting of Nazi
to present the Final Solution. The Nazis would use the latest advances in
technology, with the sole purpose of exterminating the following racial groups:
Jews, Russian prisoners of war and gypsies. The resistant group of Berlin takes
part in open political actions. Between July 1942 and September 1943, twenty-
two members of this group were trapped and killed.
All Jews were arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where they were
facing death. Those who could, tried to hide. One of the groups that remained
active until the end, providing the Jews with a place to hide, documents and
food was Chug Chaluzi (Circle of Pioneers). It is estimated that only a third of
those who went into hiding survived. The majority was reported or discovered
and then deported to a concentration camp. Approximately 56,000 prisoners
were transferred out of Auschwitz where many prisoners lost their lives during
that "March of Death". On January 27, 1945, the Russian soldiers released the
few thousand prisoners that the Germans had left behind in the camp. The
Allied Forces defeated the Axis Powers.
Defeated all his projects, Hitler committed suicide in the bunker of the
Chancellery a few days after the Russians entered Berlin.

Mussolini’s Dictatorship
By Paula La Paz
The period post- world war I brought many problems to Italy such as:
500.000 soldiers killed, economic problems: Italy had a Heavy debt with USA
and Britain.
Although France was on the side of the winners of the war Britain and
France did not give Italy the lands, in the Treaty of London (a secret treaty
where the allies promised to give Italy large chunks of Austro-Hungarian
territory after the war ended, in return Italy promised to attack Austria-
Hungary).
There was an ineffective government, the traditional political parties did
not solve the problems of the country such as the rising of unemployment led
to unrest in cities, this unleashed a social crisis, it means, that was a
discontent and social conflict, there were many strikes and occupations of
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factories specially in the north of Italy where there were most of the factories.
The middle class feared a revolution like in Russia.
In this context appeared Benito Amilcare Mussolini as the only man
capable to prevent a Communist Revolution. Mussolini was named for Mexican
reformer and President Benito Juárez. He was born into a working-class family
in 1883, his father was blacksmith and his Mother a teacher. He studied to be a
teacher and later he moved to Switzerland to avoid military service (1902). In
his youth was a revolutionary socialist, he became a political writer and
newspaper editor.
He returned to Italy in 1904, and worked as
a journalist in the socialist press, but his support
for Italy's entry into World War led to his break
with socialism. Later he joined the Italian army in
September 1915 and served in WWI.
In March 1919, Mussolini formed the
Fascist Party, with the support of many
unemployed war veterans and promised to solve Italy’s problems after the
great war and organized armed gangs called the “Blackshirts”, who terrorized
their political opponents and took control over all aspects of society:
Education, entertainment, art, religion, press.
In October 1922, Mussolini marched to Rome to took control of the
government through violence. The government was slow to act, eventually
dispatching troops, though Fascists had already seized control of some
local governments. King Victor Emmanuel III dissolved the government
and asked Mussolini to form a new one. Mussolini became Prime Minister,
as well as Minister of the Interior and Minister for Foreign Affairs. His first
act as Prime Minister was to demand special emergency powers allowing
him to rig elections in the Fascists’ favor. The same year, all Communist
members of Parliament were arrested, and all Socialist members expelled.
The co-operation with Nazi Germany increased; at first, Mussolini
disapproved of Germany’s Adolf Hitler , but over time their partnership
grew and Mussolini embraced anti-Semitic measures. Soon after, Mussolini
called for the expulsion of foreign Jews from Italy. In 1937, Italy left
the League of Nations in solidarity with Germany. In March of 1938,
Hitler invaded Austria with Mussolini’s support. By October, the two
countries had officially joined together as the Rome-Berlin Axis.
Germany’s invasion of Denmark and Norway convinced Mussolini that
Hitler would win the war. Mussolini announced Italy’s entrance into the
war. By 1943, after years of fighting in World War II , Italy was viewed by
its own citizens as losing the war, Mussolini was detained and informed
that the King had appointed a new prime minister. Mussolini was arrested
and sent to the island of La Maddalena.
When Italy accepted the terms of secret peace talks with the Allies, Hitler
ordered German forces into Italy, which resulted in two Italian nations,
one occupied by Germans. Hitler installed Mussolini as his puppet leader,

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creating the Italian Social Republic and leading to the extermination of

Italian Jews.
The end of Fascism: After 20 years of fascism and after many military
mistakes and bad decisions allowed allied forces to barreled through Italy
in June 1945. Mussolini attempted to flee to Spain with his lover, Claretta
Petacci, but they were discovered and arrested. Finally, on 28 th April of
1945, he and Claretta were killed and hanged by the fascist’s opponents
in Giulino, Azzano, Italy.

Francisco Franco Dictatorship (1939-1975)

By Ana Fernández

Francisco Franco belonged to a family of naval officers. He entered the

Infantry Academy of Toledo with only 14 years old. Then he volunteered in
Spanish colonies in Morocco where he quickly showed his ability to command
troops and his complete professional dedication.
Spain in those years: Alfonso 13th was crowned King of Spain with 16
years old. The result of this was an extreme political instability. Besides,
Spanish economy was collapsing due the global depression. By this time, the
Spanish political parties had split into two factions: the rightist National Bloc
and the leftist Popular Front. The Left proved victorious in the elections, but the
new government was unable to prevent the accelerating dissolution of the
social and economic structure: more than 300 strikes took place and hundreds
of institutions were set afire. Rightist military leaders began plotting against the
government. Induced by the assassination of extreme-right leader Calvo Sotelo,
military officers began an army mutiny. Although Franco had never been a
member of a political party, he joined the rebels and declared the military
rebellion. Then the coup attempt evolved into civil war.
The Republicans lacked a regular trained army. They were reinforced by
the International Brigade, who were recruited, organized, and directed by the
Comintern (Communist International). Nationalist Forces were based on the
Spanish regular army, which included large contingents of Moroccan troops,
which Franco had commanded in Africa. Franco’s Nationalists were supported
from the governments of Italy and Nazi Germany. Mussolini sent more than
50,000 Italian "volunteers", along with air and naval units. The German Condor
Legion, made infamous by the bombing of the Basque city of Guernica,
provided air support for the Nationalists.
France, Britain, Germany, and Italy signed a non-intervention agreement.
French and British cut off its aid to the Republicans. However, Germany and
Italy did not observe the agreement. Despite his sympathy for the Axis Power,
Franco at first declared Spanish neutrality. Franco was willing to bring Spain
into the war in exchange for German military and economic assistance. He
asked for the cession of France’s holdings in Africa, but Hitler rejected Franco´s
proposals.

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By 1939, the Republican army was exhausted. The Republican

government had exiled in France weeks earlier, and Madrid was in no condition
to resist. As many as one million lives had been lost from all causes (combat,
bombing, execution or starvation).
Life during Franco´s dictatorship: Franco established a repressive
dictatorship that would last until his death in 1975. He was the leader of an
exhausted country, divided internally and impoverished by a long and costly
war. Franco restricted individual liberties and suppressed challenges to his
authority. The regime imposed prison terms for "revolutionary activity," and
executions were carried out for years. He viewed criticism of his regime as
treason. These repressive measures engendered an atmosphere of fear. The
traumatic effect of years of violence, suffering and deprivations had left most of
the Spanish population acquiescent, willing to accept any system that could
restore peace and stability.
Franco repressed the language and culture of Spain’s Basque and
Catalan regions, and exerted absolute control over the country. Franco
persecuted political opponents and outlawed political parties, blaming them for
the chaotic conditions that had preceded the Civil War. He eliminated universal
suffrage and severely limited the freedoms of expression and association.
Franco established policies highly favourable to the Catholic Church,
which was restored to its previous status as the official religion of Spain. In
addition to receiving government subsidies, the Church regained its dominant
position in the education system, and laws conformed to Catholic dogma:
Franco banned civil marriage, made divorce illegal, and made religious
education compulsory in the schools.
Franco's regime did a systematic 'cleansing' of the education system,
controlling secondary schools, universities and academic appointments. Spanish
cultural life after the war was eclipsed by the violent death of prominent writers
as Federico Garcia Lorca, Antonio Machado, or Juan Ramón Jiménez. The poet
Miguel Hernández died in prison in 1942. Several artists went into exile as
Rafael Alberti, Pablo Picasso, Luis Buñuel, and others survived in internal exile,
but in a significantly reduced capacity for work, due to the hostility of the new
authorities, the lack of communication with the outside world, and the post-war
economic difficulties.
There was a huge emigration to America. On the collective imaginary of
the exile, the emigration to America symbolized not only a trip towards hope
but also the beginning of a new life in a distant country.
Women´s rights: Women found traditional Catholic Spanish gender roles
being imposed on them, in terms of their employment opportunities and role in
the family. Motherhood would become the primary social function of women.
They were dependent on husbands, fathers and brothers, needing their
permission to do basic activities, including applying for a job, opening a bank
account or going on a trip.
Children of Republican mothers were often removed from their care, in
order to prevent mothers from sharing their ideology with them. Republican

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women could keep their children with them in prison until the child turned three
years old. At this point, children were put into State care. When mothers were
released from prisons, they were watched to make sure they were good
mothers as defined by the State.

“Hideki Tojo”
By Belén Rosales

Tojo was born on December 1884 in Japan. His father was an army
lieutenant with samurai ancestry so, as him, Tojo persuaded a career in the
military, graduating from the “Military Staff College” in 1915. He started gaining
power in 1928 when he became a full colonel; in 1929 he was made
Commander of the First Infantry Regiment in Tokyo. In 1933 he was given
command of the 24th Infantry Brigade. In 1936, following a military insurrection
by rebel Japanese troops, Japan was arming for war and aiming for the
construction of a “New East Asian Order”; from that date Tojo emerged as a
major player in the military.
The Second Sino-Japanese War broke out on July 7, 1937, following a
skirmish between Chinese and Japanese troops outside Beijing. Tojo was
directly involved in combat. On July 30, Japan overrun Tianjin and then, on
August, attacked Shanghai. Finally, on December, when the city of Nanking
finally fell, the Japanese began a bloodthirsty massacre that lasted for six
weeks. This was called “The Nanking Massacre”, and it was the worst massacre
of unarmed troops and civilians in the history.
In May 1938, Tojo was recalled to Japan, to take the position of Vice-
Minister of War, and six months later he was appointed Commander of the
Army Aviation Division. In June, the Japanese established biological and
chemical weapons Research Facility at Ping Fan, in northern Manchukuo, whose
task was to develop and test the weapons for use in both, the Sino-Japanese
War and the approaching Second World War. At the Ping Fan Facility, at least
3000 prisoners were killed in experiments; approximately 30.000 were killed
when the plagues-infected rats were released from it by the Japanese at the
end of the war. Tojo, later said that he knew Ishii, the head of the Facility, and
that his knowledge was excellent and that he supported his research into
biological weapons.
When Japan joined the Axis Alliance with Germany and Italy, signing the
Tripartite Pact, the USA responded by placing a ban on the export of steel,
scrap metal and aviation fuel. Later, Japan and the Soviet Union signed the
Japanese-Soviet Neutrality Pact, removing the threat to Japan of invasion by
the Soviets and allowing the Japanese military to concentrate its war efforts on
the southward drive into China and South-East Asia. When Japan occupied
southern Indochina on July 23, the American-Britain froze all Japanese assets
and imposed an oil embargo: this action had the potential to cripple the
Japanese armed forces. In addition, the American-British side concentrated
troops in Hawaii, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaya and reinforced their
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defences. Finally, the United States repeated demands that, under the
circumstances, Japan could not accept: complete withdrawal of troops from
China; repudiation of the Nanking Government and withdrawal from the
Tripartite Pact. Tojo took the control of the situation and ended the peace talks
between Japan and the USA on October. Three days after, Tojo became Prime
Minister and he retained the control of the War Ministry. On December 7,
Emperor Hirohito approved war against the USA, Britain and Holland. The
Japanese stroke on December 7, bombing the USA Naval Base at Pearl Harbour
in Hawaii. After that movement, the American-British side declared war on
Japan.
After the war, Tojo was found guilty of having major responsibility for
Japan’s criminal attacks on its neighbours; of waging war against China, the
USA, Britain, the Netherlands and France and of permitting inhumane treatment
of prisoners of war. After the trial, Tojo attempted suicide. Then, he was
sentenced to death by hanging on November 1948 and executed at the
Sungamo Prison on December 23.

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